This Moment
by Morning
Summary: Forever is only a matter of time


I do not own the Biker Mice From Mars and I write this for entertainment purposes only. I have to give much thanks to Lady Foxfire's tortures for the inspiration.

This Moment

     By 

Morning 2001

The explosion was deafening as the Tower fell into a smoking pile of debris. Charley stood scared to death wondering if they had made it out. Soon the sound of two bikes was heard above the rumble of the destroyed building.

Modo and Throttle slid to a prefect stop just inches from Charley but there was no sign of Vinnie. Both mice tried to keep their concern hidden, but along with Charley, they looked worried toward the smoking pile of brick and steel. It seemed like an eternity until the sound of the wild, younger member of the Biker mice from Mars came flying out with his normal flare.

"Yo Vin, that was pretty close even for you. One of these days…" Throttle stopped abruptly looking at his friend, as if he was about to say the unspeakable. 

Vinnie brushed off his concern and flashed a bright hero's grin at Charley. "So Babe, were you impressed as always."

**Impressed!!!!** What's the matter with you, Vincent? I know you think you're the baddest so on and so forth, but that was crazy even for you. I can't deal with this Vinnie, is seems you get crazier every day. I just can't." Charley almost on the verge of tears gets on her bike and leaves.

Modo looked at Vinnie and shook his head. "Bro you'd better try and explain before you lost her."

"Yeah Vincent, I don't agree with how you're handling this, it's your life. But you know Charley girl really loves you and it's not fair for you to keep her in the dark like this." Throttle tried to reason with him.

"You're right bro, it is my life or what's left of it and I'll handle Charley my way. Mind your own business." Vinnie glared at Throttle with an unfamiliar seriousness.

"Charley is our business, bro. She's a sweet kid and I'm not going to stand by and let you keep hurtin' her like this." You owe her; we all owe her too much." Modo intervened with his eye just slightly glowing.

Vinnie bristled up ready to take on the bigger, stronger, Martian if pushed much further.

"Whoa you two, this isn't the time or the place for a brawl. Vinnie you'd better follow Charley, she looked pretty upset, and Modo you let Vinnie handle his own business. But Vincent, I'm with the big fella on you not hurting Charley. You should tell her, she deserves to know the truth."

Vinnie calmed down knowing his bros were only trying to help both he and Charley, "Yeah I guess," was all he said before he pulled off in the direction of the Last Chance Garage.

"Should we go with him?" Modo asked sorry he'd lost his temper.

Nah, it's still his call. Let's get back to the board suddenly I'm not in the mood for any celebrating."

                                         *****

When Vinnie got to the garage Charley was busy working or trying to work on her bike. He pulled up and sat watching her attempting to ignore him as she fiddled with her machine.

"Umm… Charlene can we talk?" His voice was soft and trembled slightly.

Charley never having heard him sound like that stopped what she was doing and looked at him. "What's the use Vincent? Are you going to give me some trash talk about you being a hero and that's what you do, because I don't want to hear it any more." 

Vinnie saw the hurt in her eyes and suddenly realized how much he truly loved her. "Your right Babe, there isn't any use. Hey, we were a lost cause from the word go, it had to end sometime and now is as good a time as any. Don't sweat it any more Sweetheart, easy come easy go." Vinnie turned and raced out of the garage.

Charley didn't try stopping him. Maybe he was right; they were probably doomed from the start. She turned back to her bike and continued to work, taking a deep breath and trying to shake some clarity into her mind. Picking up a near by wrench she found hard to hold, since her hands started shaking, her vision was getting blurry and she couldn't seem to get the stupid thing on the needed blot. 

Frustrated she threw the tool across the room and fell to the floor crying like her world had just ended.

Vinnie rode not like a mad man, but slow and pensive.

He stopped behind an abandon warehouse and left his bike, the machine beeping concerned. 

He smiled turning to her and tenderly running his hand across the hand bars, "Don't worry Sweetheart, I'm not going to rush anything. I just need some time alone. Stay here and watch my back." The bike acknowledged her masters request.

Vinnie walked to the back of the old building and opened a side door he was familiar with using many time before. He walked up the old metal stairs to the very top floor to what might have been an office. He opened the door and walked over to a chair situated next to the window and sat down. Next to the chair was a wooden packing crate and on top of that was an exquisite silver frame and in the frame was the picture of the woman Vinnie loved.

He reached over an gently picked up the frame and looked at the jeweled green eyes that smiled back at him and the words that were written in the corner, "My Love Forever, Your Charley girl."

A tear slid down his metal masked, falling on to the picture, descending slowly leaving a thin trail in the dusty glass, it was soon followed by many others.

                                             *****

An hour past and Vinnie didn't show up at the scoreboard. When Throttle tried to call Charley's place there was no answer, so he and Modo, getting concerned, head over to the garage.

Pulling up to the door, they saw it was still open. Going immediately inside there was no sign of Vinnie, but they found Charley lying on the floor by her bike.

Modo jump off Lil' Hoss and ran over to see if she was hurt, cautiously touching her shoulder. Charley looked up with blood red eyes and her cheeks soaking wet from crying the past hour.

"Charley? Sweetie? You hurt? What happen?"

"He's gone Modo…" was all she could get out before throwing her arms around is neck, continuing to cry bitterly.

"You better take her upstairs." Throttle suggested quietly. 

Modo nodded, picked up Charley like a small child and carried her up to her bedroom. Throttle sighed and followed watching him place her softly on her bed. She hid her face in her hands.

"Come Charley Darlin' you have to tell us what happened?" Throttle gently coaxed sitting at the foot of the bed

Vinnie… he…. we ….just…. it's over. He never… really cared.. about me.

Just a pit stop….that's all I was…", her quivering voice strained out between the flow of tears.

"No Charley babe, he cares about you. He loves you like nothing else. It's just… well… it's more to this then I can say. But trust me you 're everything to him." Throttle said placing a comforting hand on her leg and rubbing it gently.  

Charley lifted her head and sniffled wondering what Throttle was trying not to tell her, "that doesn't make any sense, if he cares like you say, then how could he just leave like he did, say the things he did?"

"You know Charley, sometimes you sacrifice everything not to hurt the one you love most in the world." Modo placed a reassuring finger under her chin. "Don't give up on him Charley girl. He's dealin' with a lot of stuff and he needs you more than he'll let you know. More than we can tell you."

"Do you love him?" Throttle asked.

She look at him for a second than smiled, "Yes, I do very much."

"Then trust that love. Now you wanna come with us and try to find the wild man," the tan Martian grabbed her leg and tugged on it playfully.

"Yeah, just let me clean up a little." Charley got up and went to the bathroom to wash her face.

Modo and Throttle went back down to the garage to wait for her.

"Do you think he'll tell her?" Modo looked to Throttle.

"I can't say bro. My worry is, how will Charley take it if he does?"

                                        ****

Throttle locked a tracking signal on to Vinnie's bike, locating it in seconds. "He's about five miles from here in the old warehouse section. "You ready Charley Darlin?"

Charley held him a bit tighter resting her head on his back. "I guess so, no I'm sure, let's go."

The three took off and after riding a little ways they finally saw Vinnie's bike. Pulling up next to her she beeped in recognition.

"Good to see you too girl, where's Vinnie? Modo gave the bike a friendly pat. A yellow arrow appeared on it's screen pointing toward the near by building.

Throttle touched his helmet looking up through the old building and found Vinnie on the top floor, "Yep, there he is?" 

"You want us to go with ya, Charley girl?" Modo asked concern about what she was about to face.

"No thanks guys, I have to do this alone. If there's any hope for us we have to face it with just he and I." Charley gave them both a grateful smile and walked into the building.

It was just about dust outside, but she had no problem seeing with all the windows letting the remaining light in. Her heart was practically beating out of her chest and she found her breath was hard to catch.

It wasn't from the long ascend up the stairs, but rather from the fear that was building up inside her.

Getting to the door she opened to see the gray image of Vinnie sitting near the furthest window. His head was down and he was holding something in his hand. The fear was overwhelming, what if Modo and Throttle were wrong? What if he was just tired of her? Still she continued to approach him stopping just inches from the back of the chair.

Vinnie knew she was there, he had hear the bikes pull up and her footsteps the moment she hit the first stair," Go away Charlene. It's no good." his voice was almost completely drained of emotion.

Charley dared to try and touch his shoulder, but he stood and walked away standing by the window trying to hide the picture he held tightly in his hand.

"What's no good, Vinnie? You? Me? Us? You have to tell me what's going on? Please, I won't believe I don't mean more to you than, an easy come easy go fling." 

"Well, believe it little girl. You were just one more pony in the Van Wham stable nothing more. Get use to it and move on." The words seem to cut his throat they hurt so badly, but he had to make her leave even if it meant she would hate him. Unconsciously he gripped the picture so hard it shattered in his hand cutting right through his glove, he did even notice.

But Charley did, she took a handkerchief from her back pocket and walked over taking the broken picture out of his cut hand. She gentle pulled the glove off and he still refuse to look at her. Wrapping the material around it to stop the bleeding.

"You may be the velocity atrocity, but you're a terrible liar. Now, I'm not going to leave, I'm not going to believe you don't love me, so you might as well fess up." She smiled at him and still holding the injured hand pulled it to her lips and kissed it.

He looked at her in the soft light coming from the window and reached over to brush a loose hair from her face. "I'm only gonna hurt ya more Charley girl. There's no future with me."

"Why Vinnie, tell me why? Is it because I'm an Earthling and you're Martian that doesn't' matter, I've told you that I'd love you if you were from the other side of the universe."

"No, that's not it," he finally broke embracing her full in his trembling arms. 

"Vincent, please tell me what's wrong?" Charley pleaded holding on to him, the fear she now felt was for him.

"Okay, okay." He looked at her once more and breathed a heavy sigh sitting down on the floor and she followed him.

"It happened on that prison moon when we were captured by the Fish heads. My face wasn't the only thing they did. Some of us were used to test different fast killing Viruses. They were trying to cook up something they could put in the air to kill us off faster and not have to waste gold gills on other weapons. Well, something went wrong and it didn't work. Our Martian ability to heal fought against the virus and we thought, killed it. Soon after we escaped and got shot down here."

"But?"  Charley tried not to sound terrified but failed.

"Some of the guys who were in the Camp with us, made it back to Mars. And with them were some of those who were infected like I was." Vinnie stopped and held Charley tighter trying to prepare her for what he was about to say. Charley held her breath until he spoke again.

"Stoker let me know that the doctors at the base found out that it actually did work, it's just at a much slower rate than the Plutarkians thought. They said they had no cure and one day I would just go to sleep and not wake up." 

"I should have given you up when I first found out, not let it go so far, but Charley I have never felt like this for anyone. I'm a selfish creep, but I thought that if I loved you as hard as I could, then went out fighting to save Mars it would be okay. You'd remember me as a hero. I'm sorry Babygirl. I never meant to hurt you, I'm so sorry." Vinnie cried begging her forgiveness.

"Shh…it's all right. I understand, it's alright," Charley held his face in her hands, then kissing both his eyes. "What we share is something so special don't ever regret it, I won't. You never know what tomorrow may bring, things chance in a blink of an eye. But we do love each other now, tonight, this moment, this second, and if that's all we ever have then life has been more wonderful than I could have hoped."

Vinnie looked at her unable to believe that he could have found such a blessing in the jade-eyed beauty that looked at him with a love beyond anything of this world or his. "Marry me Charlene? I can only promise to give you all the love I have every day I take a breath."

Charley looked up at him and smiled tears running down her cheeks,

"Yes, I don't know how we'll pull that off, but yes I would be honored to be your wife."

Vinnie tenderly kissed her and she returned it sealing the promise of eternity. Eternity that would be shared in each day they spent loving each other.

The End


End file.
